


The War of Divergence

by Warden_Sigma



Series: The Receptorverse Collection [1]
Category: My Little Pony: Friendship is Magic
Genre: Alternate Universe - Canon Divergence, Alternate Universe - Dark, Alternate Universe - Human, Gen, Human Names Used, Violence
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2015-11-30
Updated: 2015-11-30
Packaged: 2018-05-04 04:52:16
Rating: Mature
Warnings: Graphic Depictions Of Violence
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,997
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/5321168
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Warden_Sigma/pseuds/Warden_Sigma
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Princess Luna, upset with her sister's lax ruling of the country of Equestria, and Princess Celestia, concerned over Luna's more militaristic mindset, split the country into two, leaving former Princess of Friendship Victoria Tanton and her friendships strained and broken.</p>
<p>Five years later, and things have only gotten worse. Plagued with invasions and constant warfare, and seeds of discontent sewn throughout both the Solar Monarchy and the Lunar Principality, the land that was once Equestria is now but a distant memory.</p>
<p>A memory Victoria is desperate to restore.</p>
            </blockquote>





	The War of Divergence

The sounds of hard boots clomping echoed through the hallway, easily drowning out the low hum in the air, as brass lamps illuminated the white marble floor and walls.

_Marble on an airship._ Victoria thought to herself, walking with purpose as her meticulously polished boots rhythmically hit their mark. _Only Kasumi would think that's a good idea._

Soon she reached a large wooden door at the end, made of a much more sensible, lightweight material. She pushed it open with a flick of her magic and stepped inside, overlooking the bridge with some admiration.

A seat in the centre turned towards her, a woman with elegantly curled purple hair and a neatly-pressed uniform standing and saluting. "Solarius Primaris Tanton, pleasure to have you on board."

Victoria smiled. "At ease, Admiral Quartz." She walked forwards, admiring the consoles on the sides of the room. "Wow, this is really impressive."

"Well, I can't take much credit, I'm afraid. I only had input on the interior design."

"I can tell, Kasumi." Victoria turned to face her. "I mean, seriously, marble? You _are_ aware that this is an airship, I take it?"

"Of course I am." Kasumi sat down on the central chair. "The engines have proved powerful enough to handle a _little_ bit of extra weight according to the engineers. Besides, the white really shows off the black boots of the Sky Fleet uniforms." 

"Well, if the ship can't take off, I know who to blame." Victoria smirked, before taking a nearby empty seat and pulling it up next to Kasumi. "That aside, I am super excited to see this in operations."

"As am I, darling- Uh, Solari-"

"Relax, Kasumi. I'm fine with you adressing me informally. I may be Solarii, but I'm also your friend."

"Thank you, Tori." Kasumi sighed, leaning back. "I was worried you would pull rank or something." She shook her head. "But that aside, I think it's about time we get _the Light of Elegance_ in the air."

"Agreed."

Kasumi tapped a button on one of the consoles. "This is the Admiral of the Sky Fleet. We are ready to engage."

"Understood, Admiral." A deep voice crackled back through a set of speakers. "Engaging ramp in fifteen seconds."

A nixie tube counter flickered to life on the console in front of Kasumi, counting down. The low hum in the backround slowly grew in volume.

"Receptor engines running at 92% efficiency." One of the crew members on the side consoles announced. "No abnormalities detected."

"Set altitude to current height minus one."

"92%? That's not as much as I predicted..." Victoria murmured.

"Ramp engaging in 5." The speaker crackled.

"Hmm... Maybe the marble was a bad idea." Kasumi mused.

"Ramp engaged."

The airship tilted down a little, landing with a heavy thunk, and started to slide forwards. After a few seconds it levelled out, the large window in front of them displaying the Highever mountain ranges.

"Airship holding altitude." Another crew member announced.

"Engines stable."

Kasumi sighed audibly. "Thank Celestia... Alright, set a course around the mountain range before we pull into the launching bay. I wish to celebrate this success with the Solarius Primaris."

As Kasumi pulled herself out of the chair, Victoria followed suit. "Oh good, I've been meaning to catch up."

***

"This is one of the Solar Monarchy's greatest triumphs, I think." Victoria smiled, looking out the small window in her cabin and watching mountain tops pass by. "Eliminating the risks of standard hydrogen airships and vulnerabilities of helium airships through the development of an internalised receptor crystal-based gravity nullifying engine."

"Plus, _the Light of Elegance_ is a beautiful ship to look at. Why, I can only imagine the terror seeing what is essentially a flying ship looming above them would do to the Lunar Principality's morale." Kasumi's grin faded. "Speaking of..."

Victoria turned to face her. "What's wrong?"

"You... You wouldn't have recieved any letters or messages from the others, have you?"

Victoria sighed. "Jackie refuses to speak to me. Rachael can't for some reason. Emily hasn't been responding, and I have no idea where Penny's holed up right now. And... Spike said some very harsh words."

"Oh my." Kasumi replied after a second. "Well, I hope whatever they're doing, they're safe."

* * *

The tree nearly buckled under the weight of Jackie and her suit of autoplate as she pressed her back to it, panting. "Land's sake, can't I get a break...?"

"Give up, AJ!" A high pitched voice mocked from somewhere. "You know you can't beat the Watch Commander."

A branch on a nearby tree broke, and as it started to fall a slim figure darted out of the top of the tree, raining down a hail of gunfire. Jackie made a sideways dash to another tree, firing with her own rifle. When she hit the tree, she observed the multi-coloured spatter of paint on the grass. "Hah! Ya can't even hit the side of a barn with that accuracy."

The reply she got was a small round object rolling next to her. She in turn bolted to yet another tree as a huge burst of paint coated where she was just standing.

"Ya wasted a perfect opportunity, Dash." She announced, holding still.

She remained stationary for a good while. She knew she wasn't as maneuverable as her opponent, and only a little slower in a direct line. Plus, she couldn't fly. Autoplate wasn't designed for that.

As soon as she heard the sound of a branch snapping, a rustle of clothes, and the telltale sound of a flight pack's vector thrusters triggering, she spun around and opened a hail of her own paint as a rainbow-haired maniac screamed and leapt down from above, her to opening fire.

Within seconds her visor got blocked by paint, but she kept firing, eventually hearing her opponent scream in surprise and a hearty thump beside her. With a sigh, she lowered her weapon and flicked a lever in her right arm, stepping out as the back of the suit opened up.

She saw her rainbow-haired companion, covered in orange paint and partly embedded in the ground, pulling herself up and throwing of her mask. "Ow... Everything hurts."

"Need help, Rachael?" She offered her hand, and Rachael reluctantly pulled herself up with it. 

"Did you have to shoot my thruster?" Rachael pointed to her arm, a thin wisp of smoke coming out of the nozzle. 

"Hey, it ain't like I could see where I was shooting." Jackie smiled.

"Well, I guess this is a draw, then." Rachael looked at the once-black coat she was wearing, frowning.

"Nah, I reckon I had this one. I mean, your coat's covered in paint and you don't really wear armour, do ya?"

"Yeah, but I shot you in your visor."

"My visor is designed to withstand bullets of the calibre you usually use."

Rachael went to make an objection, but simply sighed. "Fair point."

"But you certainly didn't make it easy." She patted her shoulder. "Ya just need to adjust your strategies a little and you'll be all good to take on an experienced Solar autoplater."

Rachael smiled. "As long as I can kick your sorry butt, I could take on the whole Monarchy."

"Oh come on, I ain't _that_ good."

"Hey, that reminds me, you got any messages from your family yet?"

Jackie sighed, leaning on the autoplate. "Nope. I mean, I keep trying but they won't speak to me. That or the letters keep getting mixed up..."

"Damn, that sucks."

"Any word from anyone else?"

Rachael smiled. "Emily and I keep in touch, but because I'm a Watcher I can't really say much. Same with Victoria."

Jackie scoffed.

"Oh come on, AJ, you can't hold a grudge against Tori forever."

"I can, and I will. She's the Princess of Friendship, she could'a fixed all of this crap up like that, and yet she decided to go and pick sides."

"And what you did was any better?" Rachael crossed her arms. "I mean, I get it, you felt hurt, we all did. But rather than join your family you decided to dive head-first into the military."

"Says the leader of Princess Luna's Special Forces."

"Hey, I only joined the Watchers so I could keep an eye on Luna. You know, in case of Nightmareification or something. That's why I've desperately tried to keep in contact with everyone."

"And how's that workin' out for ya?" Jackie replied, cold hatred in her voice.

"Eh, can't complain. I can't seem to get a hold of Penny, though..."

"Huh." Jackie raised an eyebrow. "That's weird, I always thought Penny would be someone we wouldn't get to shut up."

"Makes you wonder..."

* * *

"Angel, please."

The rabbit crossed it's forelegs.

"I know it's not what you want right now, but we have a bit of a food shortage."

Angel didn't change his stance.

Emily sighed. "Look, I'd _love_ to feed you something more... interesting, but I don't have enough food to do so."

No response.

"Angel, I don't want you to starve. Please, just eat the lettuce."

Angel squeaked angrily.

Emily groaned. "If you won't eat it, then you won't get anything."

A knock on the door interrupted her.

"Coming!" After shooting Angel a look, she walked up to the door and gently pulled it open. "Oh, hello Brock."

"Howdy." He handed her a stack of letters.

"All for me?" Emily asked, exasperated.

"'Yup."

"... Oh." With a weak smile, she took the letters. "T-thank you."

With a smile, Brock walked off. 

Taking a seat on a worn couch, she flicked through the letters. Many were from the residents of Sanctuary requesting something or other, things she could deal with when she was in a far better mood. However, two letters drew her attention, one sealed with a gold wax sun addressed from Kasumi Quartz, the other with a deep blue crescent from Rachael Dallas.

Opening the crescent envelope first, she scanned the contents with interest.

_To Emily,_

_Yo! How's things down in Sanctuary? Pretty good, I bet. Must be nice, not having to worry about much._  
Me, I'm doing fine. Keeping an eye out for trouble. AJ's still being stubborn as usual, which sucks, but hey, what can you do?  
Man, I wish I could talk more, but work's keeping me busy. 

_Stay safe,  
Rae._

Wiping a tear from her eye, she reluctantly opened the sun envelope.

_Dear Emily,_

_It's been far too long since we've talked. How are you? I sincerely hope you're doing fine and keeping yourself out of trouble. I think all of us would be upset if anything were to happen to you._  
By the way, have you been in contact with anyone else? I'm curious as to how they're all doing, and I don't think any of us know where Penelope is. If she's staying with you, please, say hello to her for me. She may be a bit much sometimes, but she's our friend and I hope she's fine.  
Also, if you see Spike, do say hello to him also. He must be feeling terrible.  
Anyways, best of luck to you, and I do hope you're okay. 

_Lots of love,  
Kasumi Quartz._

Emily put the letters down on a nearby table, holding back sobs.

Angel was just about to complain again, but as soon as he saw her expression he decided to simply back off and eat his lettuce.

* * *

"Man, I'm bored..."

"Whoo."

"You said it, Owlowiscious." Spike pulled himself off his bed. "There's barely anything to do here. I mean, it's better than the current alternative, but still, I'd kill for something more engaging." A knock on the door, in usual fashion, interrupted him.

"Whoo?"

"I dunno, lemme go check." She yanked the door open. "Oh hey, Brock. Mail, as usual, I presume?"

"'Yup."

After a quick exchange of letters and farewells, and igniting the larger pile of letters to be sent through flamebreath mail, Spike sat on his bed and flicked through the letters. "Let's see... One from Tori and one from... Someone."

"Whoo?"

"I dunno, it's doesn't have a name on it." Placing it to one side, he opened the letter from Victoria.

_Dear Spike,_

_Hello! I know it's been a while and we last left each other on bad terms, but I just want to say I am wholeheartedly sorry._  
I know you have some very strong opinions on my joining the Solar Monarchy, and I know in the past I frequently tried to get you to return to my side, but I know that won't work.  
The best I can hope for is that we can repair what's left of our friendship.  
Who knows? Maybe it's the key to repairing Equestria itself.  
Please reply as soon as you can, 

_Miss you greatly,  
Victoria Tanton._

Spike sighed. "Either this is a thinly veiled attempt at getting me to join her, or it's genuine and she's being the dork she usually is. I'll deal with that later. Now..." He grabbed the other letter, and upon opening it the smell of chocolate permeated the room.

_To Sanctuary, Emily Fairweather, Spike Tanton and everyone in it._

**_YOU'RE NEXT_**

****

_PS: That's not a good thing, in case the emphasis wasn't obvious >:)_

Spike's eyes widened. "Oh no."

* * *

"Oh yes..." Mayor Gerard said to himself, leaning against the railings of his balcony. "What a lovely day. The sun is shining, the birds are singing, and everyone his happy and content."

"Sir," A young woman pushed glasses up her nose. "Those documents about Viridia joining the Monarchy are on your desk for you to read through and sign."

"Thank you, Mira, I'll get onto them in a moment. I'm just taking a moment to enjoy this wonderful day. Care to join me?"

"I-I think I'll pass, sir. I have lots of work to do." With a curt bow, she left, and the Mayor turned to the city and smiled.

"Ah... I don't think this day could get any better."

"I think it could."

With a yelp, the Mayor turned to the voice. Standing precariously on the railing corner was a woman, long brown coat and straight pink hair flowing in the breeze. "W-who are you? How did you get up here?"

The figure turned sharply and dropped down, looking down at him with an unsettling smile and cold eyes. "My name's Diane," She placed a finger under his chin. "But you can call me the girl of your dreams~" She giggled, moving to look over the town. "Also, duh, I climbed."

With a short cough and a quick adjustment to his coat, he spoke. "What do you want?"

"I want the same thing as everyone. To enjoy the day and have a good time. And so do all my friends. And hey, if you wanna join us, the more the merrier."

"That doesn't answer my question. What do you want with me."

Diane giggled, standing back onto the railing and turning to face him. "Clearly you're a man of business. Very well, let me make it clear. Me and my friends want to bring unrestricted fun to all of Equestria. Unfortunately, we have to get rid of the chains. And you, my good sir, are a link." With a grin, she raised her arms to her sides. "So, you wanna get rid of the chain, or do you wanna be cut?"

"Why would I negotiate with you? You're clearly insane."

"Eh, sanity was overruled anyway." She snapped her fingers, and all hell broke loose. Giant black creatures of oil burst out of many buildings and even the ground itself, and a wide range of eclectic individuals fired staggered bursts of weapons fire into the air, rounding up anyone unable to escape the titanic oil monsters.

The Mayor could only watch in horror as this unfolded, only to be hoised into the air with unnatural strength by Diane. "W-what are you...?"

"By the way, when I said I was the girl of your dreams, I didn't specify what _type_ of dreams I was from." With a sadistic grin she threw the Mayor high into the air and whipped out a strange revolver from nowhere and fired six blasts skywards. 

In a matter of seconds, the body of the Mayor fell from the sky and hit the cobblestone streets below with a crack and screams from the crowd, black ooze leaking from six holes in his body. 

With a deft leap Diane descended from the balcony, landing unharmed behind the Mayor's body. "Alright, listen up, Viridians! Your boss is dead. You now have two options. You can either join me and my friends, or you can come here and fight me." She stepped over the mayor's body, and grinned. "So, who's first?"

***

Diane sighed, spinning her revolver in her fingers as she sat atop a pile of blackened bodies. "Man, not one person wanted to join? That sucks."

"We should'a just killed them all." One of Diane's friends, dressed in mismatching armour, prodded a random body. 

"But how else are we gonna expand our team?" Diane shrugged, leaping down. "I mean, the Chaos Spawn aren't much for conversation, although at least _they_ know who's in charge."

"But what's the boss gonna say about all of this?" Another one spoke.

"I think you did the best you could." A voice cracked through the air.

"Discord?" Diane raised an eyebrow.

Out of a swirling mist of green, a tall, lanky figure walked forwards her, twirling a strange-looking cane. "I mean, it is a shame nobody here wanted to join, but at least you tried."

"Maybe my speech was too aggressive...?" Diane muttered.

"No, these people were very determined to keep on a path they has chosen. What the path was to achieve, I don't know. Besides, I thought your speech was brilliant."

"So, what's the plan now, boss?"

Discord hummed, stroking his goatee. "I suppose we round up the survivors and leave this town to rot. After that, we've got to get ready to go to Sanctuary.

**Author's Note:**

> This is a rewrite of one of my first fanfictions, lovingly redone with a whole slew of updates, such as:  
> -Much better developed headcanon for humanised pastel horses (why yes I do have too much free time why do you ask?)  
> -A vastly more coherent and complicated storyline than the original.  
> -Now with content from all five seasons rather than the original one-or-two.  
> -22.7% of your daily intake of grimdark steampunk human ponies!  
> -Less awkward shipping.  
> -And probably more.


End file.
